Back from NCTE/ALAN

         




Happy Thanksgiving, all! I'm still technically on vacation until tomorrow, and I must say, I'm still recovering from being in Las Vegas for the NCTE conference and ALAN workshop for almost a week. It was a bit surreal to be in Vegas and working--I'll just say that I hadn't left the MGM Grand where the conference was held the whole time--I tried to venture out for a run, but must have gone out the wrong exit, because I kept running into construction and dead-ends, so turned around and ran back to the fitness center. Indoors. Ah, well.

Despite the surreal nature of Vegas, it was a great conference as usual, mainly because it was a nice opportunity to hang out with authors, teachers, and fellow publishing folk. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do, but here are some random moments:

Sara Zarr signing

Stacking the booth with giveaways

Most awesome poster ever: NIGHTTIME NINJA by Barbara DaCosta and Ed Young

panel with Cat Patrick (Forgotten, Revived, and the upcoming The Originals)

Awesome pins for Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Our fearless leader, School & Library Marketing Director Victoria Stapleton (who wears sunglasses at night) with author Matthew Quick (Sorta Like a Rock Star; Boy21; and the upcoming Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock)

Books for our ALAN dinner: I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga and ADAPTATION by Malinda Lo

Barry Lyga was a trouper and came to Vegas despite breaking his foot in four places. We rented him this smooth ride.

We hosted at various times authors Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Jewell Parker Rhodes (Ninth Ward and the upcoming Sugar), Julie Anne Peters (This is Our Prom [now deal with it]), Libba Bray (The Diviners), Gail Carriger (Etiquette & Espionage), Cat Patrick (The Originals), Matthew Quick (Boy21), Sara Zarr (The Lucy Variations), Barry Lyga (I Hunt Killers), Malinda Lo (Adaptation), and Sherman Alexie (who was sponsored at the show by his adult publisher, Grove, to promote Blasphemy).

Lots of good food and conversation was had by all.

***

And just for fun, in case you missed it:

The Dudes of YA: A "Lit-Erotic" Photo Spread by Sean Beaudoin. Pure genius and hilarity.

Sean is brilliant (and yes, I work with him--Going Nowhere Faster, Fade to Blue, You Killed Wesley Payne, and the upcoming Wise Young Fool), and was inspired to put this piece together by a rather innocent blog post by Cat Patrick highlighting (some of the) dudes of YA.